Anti-malware scanning in a computing system may involve processing using a Central Processing Unit (CPU) of the computing system. The CPU may execute an anti-malware algorithm on files stored in a non-volatile storage (e.g., hard drive) of the computing system sequentially, i.e., one file at a time. The file Input/Output (I/O) speed may be limited, for example, by a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) or an Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) attachment. Until data arrives from a memory of the computer system, the CPU may be unable to analyze the data, regardless of the availability of a large memory and/or processing power.
The abovementioned sequential execution of the anti-malware algorithm by the CPU may lead to a long time being taken for the completion of the scanning process.